The mounting of an accessory, for example, a plow or material spreader, on a vehicle requires that accessory controls be placed in the vehicle at a location accessible to a vehicle operator, who is normally seated in a driver's seat. Upon the vehicle operator using the accessory switches, electrical signals must be transmitted from the switches to various devices on the plow or material spreader. Normally, the transfer of those signals is accomplished by running individual wires from the switches to the various devices on the plow and material spreader. Further, each of those wires must pass through one or more electrical connectors that are used to connect and disconnect the plow or material spreader from the vehicle. The relatively large number of wires used in such connectors makes the connectors relatively expensive to manufacture and somewhat awkward and difficult for a user to connect and disconnect. In addition, such electrical connectors are normally exposed to adverse weather conditions and moisture; and over time, electrical contacts within the connectors oxidize, corrode, etc. Such oxidation, etc., is detrimental to maintaining high quality electrical connections across the electrical connectors. Further, such oxidation, etc., may cause the contacts between the two coupling members of the connectors to bind together, thereby making it difficult to separate the two coupling members of the connectors without causing damage.
In order to reduce the cost and labor associated with adding large, multiconductor accessory wiring cables to a vehicle to handle control signals for an accessory, it is known to use existing vehicle wiring as a communications bus over which frequency modulated control signals for the accessories are multiplexed. While such a system does eliminate the costs associated with the manufacture and installation of the cables, other potential problems are introduced. First, there are the costs of the electronic circuits to support the encoding/decoding and multiplexing of the signals over existing vehicle wiring. Second, the existing vehicle wires are chosen for their intended use, that is, to conduct power throughout the vehicle, and are not ideal conductors for accessory control signals. Third, there is a question whether the system as a whole is sufficiently immune from outside signal interference. Fourth, there is a potential of interfering with the operation of existing or future vehicle electrical devises that are powered by, or controlled over, the vehicle power lines.
Therefore, there is a need for a system for transferring accessory control signals between a vehicle and vehicle mounted accessories using fewer connections while isolating the accessory electrically, from the vehicle as much as possible.
Accessories such as a plow that are mounted on a front end of a vehicle often obscure a daytime running light (“DRL”) on the vehicle. In such a situation, it is desirable to provide a DRL feature on the plow. However, in view of the many different ways that manufacturers implement a DRL feature, it is very difficult to practically integrate a DRL feature on an after-market product such as the plow. Therefore, there is a need to provide an accessory product that automatically implements a DRL feature if such is used on a vehicle.
Different plows having different shapes and controls to effect different motions can be mounted on a vehicle. Thus, each plow has a unique control program that requires either a physically separate control, which is expensive, or the reprogramming of a generic control, which is time consuming for the user. Therefore, there is a need to provide a plow control that is able to automatically identify a particular type of plow that is attached to the vehicle and then, automatically reprogram itself to operate the identified plow.
When not in use, unattached plows are often left at locations where they are accessible to others. Therefore, anyone having a plow control of a particular manufacturer installed on a vehicle can approach an unattached plow, attach it and drive away. However, if the communications between a particular vehicle and a particular plow are secured, for example, with a security code, then an unauthorized person cannot operate a plow with a different, unauthorized plow control. Thus, there is a need for a plow control that utilizes security measures to help deter plow thefts.